Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) has been awarded an $800,000 two-year grant to launch a new non-credit health information technology (HIT) certification program. It will join a tow-year HIT degree program at DMACC already in the final planning stages; both will start in the fall 2010 semester. The grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Seventy community colleges across the nation received funding for the new program as part of a larger $144 million award from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Approximately $4 million has been awarded to the state of Iowa to fund the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) announced today. WAP is a federal grant program established to help reduce heating and cooling costs for low-income persons by improving the energy efficiency of their homes. The funding came from the U.S. Department of Energy.

West Des Moines-based Hanser & Associates won the 2010 Best of Show in the Central Iowa chapter of the Public Relations Society of America’s annual Prime Awards competition. The agency was awarded the honor for its work on a social media program created for Megabus.com.

The Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART) has announced a partnership with Megabus.com, a city-to-city express bus company that touts $1 fares, that will enable DART riders to catch a free ride on days of their arrival and departure of a Megabus trip during the month of May. Megabus has a stop at the corner of Fourth and Walnut Street on DART’s current transit mall. The deal allows Megabus riders to leave their cars at home and save on the expense of a downtown parking spot. “This is a great partnership connecting two modes of transportation,” said DART Commission Chair Angela Connolly in a release. “We hope this promotion shows locals how convenient traveling without a car can be – just walk to the nearest DART bus stop and you’re off to Chicago.”

The Business Record yesterday reported incorrectly the terms of a new promotion by Coldwell Banker Mid-America Group Realtors. The article should have stated that Central Iowa home sellers participating in Coldwell Banker’s Buyer Bonus Sales Event will offer a credit of 3 percent, up to $8,000, of their home’s purchase price to buyers who sign a contract before July 31.